LAND OF FRUITS, NUTS…AND POTHEADS

It was an interesting election  few years back.  That’s when California voters went to the polls and voted “yes” on Proposition 215.  It was called “The Compassionate Use Act.”  It allowed people who were knocking on death’s door the legal right to smoke a little pot to ease their pain.  After all, taking morphine might cause them to become addicted during their final days on this planet.

Californians…being sympathetic to those in pain, overwhelmingly approved Proposition 215.  Of course there was no organized opposition to the ballot measure.  Who in their right mind would want to prevent someone with terminal cancer from leaving this world in pain.

But a strange thing happened following that election.  Californians revealed that we live in a very sick state.  There are more sick people in this state per capita than any other state in the union.  It also revealed a new source of income for doctors.  You see, in order to legally get high on pot, a person has to have a note from a doctor.

Today, anyone with an abscessed tooth, a bad back, athletes foot, a headache, a hangnail or hemorrhoids can get a note from a doctor granting the “patient” permission to legally get high (as long as the “patient” can cough up the hundred bucks or so to pay the doctor.)  When it comes to renewing the permission slip, that’s another fifty bucks.

In a college town like Chico, California, that permission slip and it’s annual renewal has generated mucho bucks (under the table?)for local doctors (who apparently aren’t paid enough for heart transplants to make their yacht payments.)

Proposition 215 also opened up other avenues to generate revenue.  Advertising.  In this college town, the Chico News and Review is a weekly newspaper which carries advertisements for the “medicine” being sought by so many “patients.”  The “medicine”…with such names as Super Lemon Haze, Pineapple Skunk, Headband, and Crack.

Daily specials are also advertised with special “sales” except the word “sales” is never used.  It’s still against the law to sell marijuana. The terms to avoid such breaches of the law are “transactions” or “donations”.  For example, one such advertisement states “Greatly reduced.  Suggested donation $135 per ounce.”  Another offers $8 off any ‘transaction over $25.  And still another offers a free gram with any transaction.  Still another advertises a delivery service only.  How cool is that!

Yes, Proposition 215 changed everything, proving once and for all that Caliornia is not just the land of fruits and nuts.  It has become the land of pot heads.  It’s illegal to light up a Camel in public in so many places, but it’s okay to light up a joint (as long as you’ve got your permission slip.)

 

 

DON’T ASK – DON’T TELL (Part 2)

I’ve slugged this as Part II because I’ve already written my thoughts on the subject.  (Part I was published on February 12, 2010.  You can read it by checking the archives column on the right side of your screen.)  For those of you that don’t want to maneuver through the archives, let me just repeat the final paragraph from Part I:

If allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military becomes the norm, I foresee a major exodus from the military followed by an immediate drop off of new volunteer recruits.  How then, do the services reach their enlistment goals each year?  The only solution will be a return to the draft.

So. here it is…eleven months later.  Where do we stand?  The democrats and even some Republicans are still hell-bent on opening up the military to homosexuals.  I would venture to say that the majority of those pushing the agenda have never served, didn’t want to ever serve, hold the military in contempt, and don’t give a damn about the results of their misguided agenda.

Results of troop surveys reveal that congressional repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will severely impact recruiting, retention, unit cohesion and morale.

In a recent hearing on the issue, Senator John McCain warned that hundreds of thousands of valuable soldiers could flee the military because of what homosexual activists are demanding.  He said “If 12.6 percent of the military left early, that translates into 254,600 men and women who would leave the military earlier than planned.  Do you think that’s a good idea to replace 265,600 troops in a time of war?”

Bob Maginnis, military analyst added “Twelve point six percent is just the people who said they WOULD leave.  If you add in the number who said they MIGHT leave, you get 23.7 percent.  That would be 528,000 when you count active duty and reserves.”  Those statements from those “in the know” underscore my prediction contained in Part 1 of a mass exodus from the military should the homosexual acvists get their way.

It would be wise to remember the words of Lt. Colonel Oliver North who said “No nation has ever had a better military than today’s all-volunteer U.S. Armed Forces.  The best trained, best equipped, most experienced.  But now, there are those who intend to put the capabilities of this extraordinary force and our nation’s security at risk–just to carry out a radical social exeriment.

Not By Fire – But By Ice

While hosting a radio talk show during the decade of the 90;s, I interviewed an author who had written a book entitled “Not By Fire, But By Ice.  I wish I could remember his name.  The book might still be available on Amazon.

The author was adamant that an ice age was coming.  At the time, the world was hearing all about global warmng and how we were all about to die fromthe heat, or die by drowning as the glaciers melted.  Yet here was an author who wrote words to the effect “hold on…wait a minute…you have it all wrong.  We’re gonna’ freeze to death.”

It was an amazing interview that went well beyond the usual  thirty minutes I allowed for guests.  That author got a full hour of the three-hour program.  I’ve never forgotten that interview because the topic was so unusual.  An impending ice age at the same time the world was being warned about global warming.

So, here we are as 2010 comes to a close and we’re being told 2010 was the hottest year on record.  That alone is an outright lie, but probably enough to give media reporters a story that’ll help sell newspapers.  Imagine my surprise while reading the Sunday Sun of London.  Let me just share with you this one paragraph:

   First the good news.  These bitter winters aren’t going to last forever.  The bad news is that they will go on for the next thirty years as we have entered a mini ice age.  So says author Gavin Cooke in his book “Frozen Britain’.  He began writing it in 2008 and it was published last year when experts were scratching their heads at the cause of the bitter winter of 2009/10 which brought England to a standstll.”

So, while the experts were scratching their head, the global warming zealots decided they’d better change the words.  Now they call it “climate change.”  How convenient is that?  The climate has changed since the beginning of time.  Oh, there are a few ‘Johnny-come-latelytypes that still subscribe to the term “global warming” but it’s a pretty hard theory to sell when it’s ten below zero.

Searching newspapes around the globe today, here are a few headlines I’ve underlined for the purpose of this article:

     London Daily Mail:  Christmas Threatened as Big Freeze Death Toll Rises.

     Florida Sun Sentinel:  Fort Lauderdale Breaks 169 year old cold record.

     AccuWeather:  Big Upcoming Snow Dump For East Coast.

     Deep Freeze Threatens Florida Strawberries.

     Bitter Cold Blast All the Way To Florida

     More Flooding, Crop Damage as Heavy Rains Again Hit Australia.

Now the question is, has any of this caused any of the global warming alarmists to change their views?  Absolutely!  According to the London Sun Sentinel, the names include international climatologist Mike Lockwood of Reading.  In 2007 he said the cyclical change in the sun’s energy was NOT responsible for climate change.  In April this year, writing in New Scientist magazine, he did a U-turn and said it was.

After a study, he and hs team concluded that recent cold British winters have coincided neatly with the biggest fall off in the sun’s activity for a century, contradicting the accepted theory that carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases are likely to warm our climate.

Will this new information put a stop to the global warming hoax?  Nope!  Why not?  There’s no money to be made by such an admission.

SENDING A KILLER TO CONGRESS?

It seems rather strange heading into election day knowing that all the candidates on the ballot are crooks! I make that statement based on all the campaign ads hitting the airwaves and mailers hitting the mailboxes. Based on the ads, it seems that every candidate is either a drunk, an adulterer, a thief, a puppet for special interests, a Muslim, a Christian, an Atheist, a Witch, and on and on it goes.

Having an interest in politics since the age of five (at which time I campaigned for Franklin Roosevelt while pulling my little red wagon along 2^nd street yelling “vote for Roosevelt” — the campaign trail being only a block long ‘cause my mom wouldn’t let me cross the street) I must admit our current election cycle is the dirtiest that I’ve ever encountered.

It was former president Bill Clinton who coined the term “politics of personal destruction.” It was bad back then, but it’s worse now. It appears to me that the only way to win an election is to demonize an opponent even if it means playing fast and loose with the truth. Truth is the first casualty in an election season. There may be a tiny element of truth in a negative ad….say…..one percent, while ninety nine percent are absolute lies.

 Here’s an example of how that works: Say, John Schmuck is running for Congress. He’s clean, articulate and honestly believes he can do a good job in the office he seeks. His opponent, suffering in the polls has to do something to destroy Mr. Schmuck. He creates an ad accusing Schmuck of taking campaign donations from special interests out of state. Turns out, the donation of ten dollars to Schmuck’s campaign was from his grandmother, who lives out of state.

That’s how it works! And it gets worse in the final week before the election. A candidate who is the target of a negative ad has no time to respond. So just remember, if you hear or receive a flyer in the mail stating “Do we really want to send a killer to Congress”, that “killer” was merely caught on camera, SWATTING A FLY….but that part was intentionally left out.

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DEMOCRAT’S NEW VOCABULARY

Politicians (primarily Democrats) have developed a new vocabulary. They have totally deleted the word LIE. The new word is MIS-SPOKE. Now, they can lie with impunity and get away with it.

It all started with Hillary Clinton while she was campaigning for the presidential nomination. Remember her claim of coming under hostile fire while disembarking from a plane in Kosovo? She claims she had to duck and run for cover. Fortunately, others on the same plane at the same time had no such recollection, and nary a shot had been fired.

When confronted by reporters, she admitted that she merely “mis-spoke”, and that was the end of it. All was forgiven.

Then there’s democrat candidate for Senate, Richard Blumenthal who lied through his teeth claiming to have served in Vietnam. Turns out he was a military reservist who had never set foot in Vietnam. But, according to Blumenthal, he didn’t lie about it. He merely mis-spoke. All is forgiven and he’s still running for the Senate.

There used to be a joke about politicians and their lies. It went something like this; how do you know when a politician is lying. Answer? Their mouth is moving.

That joke won’t fly anymore…not in this day and age. Politicians don’t lie if they’re democrats. They merely mis-speak.

ECONOMIC PICTURE – FACT OR FICTION

Wanna’ know where we REALLY are when it comes to the economy? It’s easy if we hit the rewind button and go back in time to the one year anniversary of Timothy Geithner’s maiden speech as Treasury Secretary. Notwithstanding the fact that Geithner was “outed” as a tax cheat prior to his nomination to that high post, Geithner had this to say while honoring his first year of achievements in February 2009.

“The actions we took, alongside the Recovery Act, have worked to restore economic growth and financial stability. Access to credit is improving and the cost of borrowing for businesses, consumers, homeowners and state and local governments has fallen sharply.”

That’s a pretty rosy scenario but it wasn’t true then…and it’s not true now. According to the Sacramento Bee, the Senior Vice President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce had this to say: “Small businesses must be able to get the cash they need to survive, grow and thrive. Access to capital for small business is as essential as water is to a fish. Without it, you don’t have the capacity to hire or retain employees or buy supplies. But so far, that cash lifeline remains frustratingly out of reach for many.”

The Small Business Administration (SBA) used to be the lifeline for small business, but according to the Bee’s figures, “Even if lending growth continues at the same pace in the second half of 2010, it’ll still remain far below 2007 figures. Combine that with the near absence of non-SBA lending, and the situation remains grim.”

So, Timothy Geithner’s one-year anniversary speech was nothing but a pack of lies designed to paint a picture for general public consumption. A picture designed to make his boss, Barack Obama, look good. A picture painted on canvass with disappearing ink, leaving nothing but an empty easel. Much like our president, who, as it turns out, is nothing more than an empty suit.

MEDIA BIAS UNMASKED!

In 1985, fewer than half (45%) said news organizations were politically biased, while 36% said news organizations were careful to AVOID bias.  Today, according to the PEW Research Center,  by greater than two-to-one say the mainstream press IS biased!  Oh…golly gee.  I wonder why.

Could it possibly be that not a single news organization (except Fox News) covered the story of Van Jones until AFTER he resigned?  Van Jones…the admitted Communist appointed by Barack Obama to be the “Green Czar.”  The mainstream press just looked the other way.

Remember the 3-day demonstration in Washington DC by anti-war activists which was covered sun up to sun down by all the major news outlets?  We were treated to the marchers, being led by drum-thumping bearded pot smokers.  Compare that with the way the media treated the latest Patriot March in DC.  It’s almost as if it never happened.  The Tea Parties held across America were said to be a gathering of right-wing fringe kooks.

Or could it possibly be that ACORN (the political arm of the Democrat party) has been ripping off the taxpayers for years, but nobody cared?  It took the efforts of a pair of amateur sleuths to do what CBS’s Sixty Minutes should’ve done…BUT DIDN’T.

According to Dan Gainor, reporter for Fox News, the ACORN story had everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers.  It’s a network news director’s dream.  Imagine the ratings.  But, almost no one covered it…EXCEPT FOX NEWS.

Shortly after Fox News broke the story,  ACORN issued a press release that WAS picked up by the mainstream press.  It read: “The relentless attacks on ACORN’s members, its staff and the policies and positions we promote are unprecedented.  An international entertainment conglomerate, disguising itself as a ‘news’ agency has expended millions, if not tens of millions of dollars, in their attempt to destroy the largest community organization of black, Latino, poor and working families in the country.  It is not coincidence that the most recent attacks have been launched just when health care reform is gaining traction.”

Well…that was then…this is now.  The Senate has voted overwhelmingly to prohibit HUD grants from going to ACORN, the Census Bureau has cut all ties with ACORN.  Arrest warrants have been issued in Florida for ACORN employees who allegedly falsified voter applications, and the House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to deny all federal funds to ACORN.  Senator Richard Shelby is calling for a complete investigation by theFBI into all facets of the ACORN organization.

All of this, heretofore ignored by the mainstream press.  Is it any wonder that over half (65%) of the general public considers the mainstream press to be politically biased?  Is it any wonder that Fox News is stomping all over the other news networks, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, when it comes to viewership?  You’d think thos other networks would  wise up, huh?

Will they ever?  Nope!  Why? Because they’re left-wing liberals…and left wing liberals NEVER learn.  They’re like pigs in a sty.  It’s dirty, muddy, filthy in there…and it stinks.  But they don’t seem to mind.

WHO GOT THE MEDAL?

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wants to bring charges against CIA operatives (for preventing attacks on this country.)  The Left-wing(nuts) say that’s not enough.  Dick Cheney and George Bush should be brought up on charges, too (for keeping this country safe in the eight years following 9-eleven.

Personally, I believe all CIA agents involved in the war on terror should receive the Medal of Freedom, and likewise, should Bush and Cheney.

But who got the medal?  On August 12th,  President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Freedom to the late Harvey Milk, that sick, demented, homosexual child-predator….the individual who did more to harm and tarnish the youth of this country than that drug-crazed University professor when he urged his students to “tune in , turn on….and drop out.”

Here in California, the Democrat-controlled legislature wants all schools to honor that pervert with a special day, called Harvey Milk Day.   The governor vetoed the idea last year, but it’s back on his desk again this year, and the Medal of Freedom presentation in the White House might just be enough to earn the governor’s signature.

ABOMINATION IN OBAMA-NATION

I got my start in politics by campaigning for Frankli Roosevelt who was running against Windell Willkie.  I didn’t know anything about Democrats and Republicans at the time.  I just didn’t like the name Windell Willkie and I pulled my little red wagon up and down 2nd Street in San Dimas yelling “Vote for Roosevelt.”  Then, it was Harry Truman versus Thomas Dewey  I didn’t like the name Thomas Dewey either, so I was in favor of Truman.

As I grew older and wiser, I began paying closer attention to the presidential candidates and their political parties without concern for their names.  I wanted to know what philosophies separated the parties.  I began studying their political platforms to see which ones conformed to those of our Founding Fathers.  Here’s what I found:

Norman Thomas…six-time presidential candidate on the Socialist party ticket said “The American people will never vote for Socialism, but under the name of ‘Liberalism’ the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day, America will be a socialist nation without knowing how it happened.  I no longer need to run as a Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party.  The Democrat Party has adopted our platform”

Some readers of Tidbits are perhaps too young to remember that under the Truman administration, it was proposed that we have a compulsory federally funded health insurance program for all people in the United States.  The American people at the time were adamantly opposed and soundly rejected the idea…so it was scrapped.

In 1961, Ronald Reagan said “One of the traditional methods of imposing socialism on a people has been by way of medicine.  It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project.”  Reagan wasn’t even president at the time.

In spite of the American people being on record for not wanting socialized medicine,  Democrat Congressman Foran introduced the Foran Bill.  This was the idea that all people of social security age should be brought under a program of compulsory health insurance.  This would not only be the senior citizens and their dependents, but also for those who were disabled.

Congressman Foran was subscribing to the “foot in the door” philosophy because he said “If we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, then we can expand the program after that.” The Socialists themselves had this to say.  “Once the Foran bill is passed, this nation will be provided with the mechanism for socialized medicine capable of indefinite expansion in every direction until it includes the entire population.”  which is exactly what the Socialists wanted.

AND IT IS EXACTLY WHAT BARACK OBAMA’S HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL IS DESIGNED TO ACCOMPLISH.

As history shows, the Bill  passed…not under the Foran name because by this time, he was out ofoffice.  The final product was the Kerr-Mills bill which passed, and Medicare was attached to the Social Security progam.  Now, under President Obama, the third and final leg of the Socialist’s scheme;  Compulsory health insurance for the remaining populace.

James Madison in 1788 said “Since the general civilization of mankind, Ibelieve there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation.”

I believe we would all do well by taking those words to heart…and remember…the nearest cousins to Socialism are Liberalism and Communism!  Is that the CHANGE we the people voted for?

 

A LESSON FOR AMERICA

Didja’ hear the one about the college economic professor who made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class?  The class had insisted that President Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich…a great equalizer as a result of redistribution of wealth.

The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan.”  All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive and A.  After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.  The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less, and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little.  The second test average was a D.  No one was happy.

When the third test rolled around, the average was an F.  The scores never increased, as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.  All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told tthem that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great.  But when the government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

I’m not sure where that story originated, but the outcome of Obama’s socialist agenda can’t be explained in more simpler terms unless one reads and understands the words of Dr. Adrian Rogers, who in 1931 said this:  “When half the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work becaus somebody else is going to get what they work for…that my dear friend is about the end of any nation.”